A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-nine, article five,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to failure to
meet an obligation to provide support to a minor; lowering
the amount of arrearage that constitutes a felony; and
providing criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-nine, article five, chapter sixty-one of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE.

§61-5-29. Failure to meet an obligation to provide support to a
minor; penalties.

(1) A person who: (a) Persistently fails to provide support
which he or she can reasonably provide and which he or she knows he or she has a duty to provide to a minor; or (b) is subject to
court order to pay any amount for the support of a minor child
and is delinquent in meeting the full obligation established by
suchthe order and has been so delinquent for a period of at
least six months' duration, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the
county jail for not more than one year, or both fined and
imprisoned.
(2) A person who persistently fails to provide support which
he or she can reasonably provide and which he or she knows he or
she has a duty to provide to a minor by virtue of a court or
administrative order and the failure results in: (a) An
arrearage of not less than teneight thousand dollars; or (b)
twelve consecutive months without payment of support, is guilty
of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars,
or imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than three
years, or both fined and imprisoned.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to lower the amount of
child support arrearage which constitutes a felony from $10,000
to $8,000.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.